Operation Husky
Operation Husky - the Invasion of Sicily was the start of the Allied assault on German occupied Europe. After defeating the Axis forces in the Tunisian Campaign, the United States and Great Britain planned the invasion of occupied Europe and the final defeat of Nazi Germany. The Allies decided to attack Italy, hoping an Allied invasion would remove Benito Mussolini from power, secure the Mediterranean and divert German divisions from France and Russian. The man Allied forces for the assault were the US 7th Army under Lieutenant-General George S. Patton and the British 8th Army under General Sir Bernard Montgomery. General Alfredo Guzzoni had 12 divisions - two German and 10 Italian to defend the island; five of the latter were infantry and five immobile coastal defence divisions. The garrison was 250,000-strong"Alfredo Guzzoni's Italian Sixth Army, a collection of 200,000 Italian soldiers backed by 50,000 Germans..." Men on Iron Ponies: The Death and Rebirth of the Modern U.S. Cavalry, Matthew Darlington Morton, p. 131, Northern Illinois University Press, 2009"At first glance, the command—numbering some 200,000 Italian troops backed up by another 32,000 German soldiers and 30,000 German Luftwaffe ground crews—should have been impressive." Operation Husky: The Canadian Invasion of Sicily, July 10 - August 7, 1943, Mark Zuehlke, p. 67, D & M Publishers, 2009 but included only about 60,000 Germans and even they were not fully mobilised. Beach defences, including middle-aged reservists from the coastal divisions and blackshirts, were less formidable than those encountered in Normandy the following year and the Italian High Command was forced to use commandeered French Army light tanks against the Allied landings. However, the rugged rolling terrain favoured the Italian defenders. After 38 days of hard fighting, the U.S. and Britain Commonwealth forces successfully drove German and Italian units from Sicily and prepared to assault the Italian mainland. Battle On the night of 9/10 July, Allied airborne units began landing, while American and British ground forces came ashore three hours later in the beaches of Licata, Gela, Scoglitti, Pachino and Avola. The Allied advance initially suffered a setback, when a company from the British 1st Airborne Division was overrun at Ponte Grande.""Two companies of sailors attacked first but were beaten back. Gradually they were reinforced as the Italians shelled the bridge with mortars and, finally, field guns. The Italian 385th Coastal Battalion joined the battle, and at about 11:30 A.M., the 1st Battalion of the Italian 75th (Napoli) Infantry Regiment came up ... The Red Devils held on, but by 2:45 P.M. there were fifteen unwounded survivors, although several of the wounded continued to fight. Finally, at 3:30 P.M., the end came when the ammunition ran out." The Battle of Sicily: How the Allies Lost Their Chance for Total Victory, Samuel W. Mitcham, Friedrich von Stauffenberg, p. 76, Stackpole Books, 2007 Backed by naval gunfire, the US 1st Infantry Division beat back counterattacks on their beachhead by the Italian Livorno Division and then the German Hermann Goering Panzer Division. The British occupied Syracuse, with the Durham Light Infantry beating back a counterattack from the Italian Napoli Division."The 6th Battalion, however, was counterattacked by the Italian Napoli Division, first with tanks and then with infantry. The tanks - some five in all careered down the road from Palazzola as the Battalion was moving forward: four where knocked out but one reached Floridia, shooting up Colonel Watson's jeep and wounding the medical officer on the way ... The infantry attack was launched after the Battalion had moved into its new positions and it was stopped by artillery fire." The D.L.I. at War: The History of the Durham Light Infantry 1939-1945, David Rissik, p. 123, Andrews UK Limited, 2012 As the British 8th Army began to get bogged down, General Alexander ordered the US 7th Army to shift east and protect the British left flank. Seeking a more important role for his men, General Patton disregarded the British order and sent a strong force towards the island's capital, Palermo. When General Alexander radioed the US 7th Army to stop their advance, General Patton ignored him, claiming the orders were "garbled in transmission". With Patton advancing on the north coast, Alexander ordered a two-prong assault on Messina, hoping to capture the city before Axis forces could evacuate Sicily. Driving his men relentlessly, Patton entered the city on 17 August, a few hours after the last Axis troops departed and a few hours before Montgomery arrived. The fall of Palermo helped dissidents in Rome engineer Mussolini's fall from power. Aftermath In the fighting for Sicily, the Allies suffered 23,934 casualties while the Axis forces lost 29,000 killed and wounded, and 140,000 captured. The campaign taught the Allied commanders valuable lessons that were utilized the following year on D-Day. The Allied forces continued their invasion of Italy in September when landings commenced at Salerno and Taranto on the Italian mainland .References